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If you could permently eliminate one type of insect from the face of the planet

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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 11:46 AM
Original message
If you could permently eliminate one type of insect from the face of the planet
Edited on Sun Aug-16-09 11:49 AM by NJmaverick
what would it be and why?

Me- the mosquito, I have little use for these disease carrying blood suckers
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MrScorpio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
1. I agree
But, are they a food source for some other thing?
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deucemagnet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 06:34 PM
Response to Reply #1
40. As aquatic larvae mosquitoes are a very important food source
for fish and other aquatic creatures. Fleas, on the other hand, could be obliterated from the face of the earth with little to no environmental impact.
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old mark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 11:55 AM
Response to Original message
2. ...you would probably fuck up some delicate ecosystem and cause the end of life as we know it.
Oh, well.....

Was either that or the asteroid they couldn't find...


mark
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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. but at least we wouldn't be itchy
;-)
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old mark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 01:55 PM
Response to Reply #7
20. Silver lining in everything,
I guess....


mark
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Tommy_Carcetti Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 11:59 AM
Response to Original message
3. Deer flies.
Every spring in Maryland, these horribly evil insects would descend upon the landscape and do a single task--constantly dive bomb and circle and buzz any human's head in sight. And it didn't matter how much you would swat at them, they would simply not stop. Deer flies made going outside for a period of 2-3 weeks virtually impossible.

Then there were their equally evil cousins, the horse flies. Bigger, but they would find you--usually at the swimming pool-and come at you and bite. And not a little mosquito prick bite, either, but like a rabid pit bull.
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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Are those horse flies like the blow flies they get down the southern Jersey shore
the bite is like mule kick, hurts like hell
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Tommy_Carcetti Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:08 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. Most likely one and the same. nt
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Kali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:44 PM
Response to Reply #6
14. those are probably sand flies - they bite
blow flies mostly lay eggs on dead things, if one is in your house they bang noisily against windows
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arcadian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:00 PM
Response to Original message
4. That action would doom humanity.
mosquitos pollinate many plant species and provide food for many omnivores.
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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. pish posh... minor little detail
:hi:
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
8. Species of flies that borrow into human skin migrate and form tunnels
lay eggs in the skin that develop into young that crawl within your skin.
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NewJeffCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 07:11 AM
Response to Reply #8
50. bot flies?
I saw that show "Monsters Inside Me" and that sounds like a bot fly.
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bridgit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
9. The 'type' of insect that impacts upon while delivering blood pathogens
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:08 PM
Response to Original message
10. Lady bugs. They disgust me.
Just kidding, I would be into mosquito genocide.
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sarge43 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:40 PM
Response to Original message
12. Japanese Beetles
They eat roses and nothing eats them - nasty useless creatures.
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janx Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:43 PM
Response to Original message
13. The cockroach. n/t
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Kali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:47 PM
Response to Original message
15. squash bugs
:mad:
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coconuted Donating Member (130 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
16. Love bugs.
They are completely useless.
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 05:13 PM
Response to Reply #16
38. Let me get this straight: You hate love bugs?
:rofl:
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coconuted Donating Member (130 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 06:16 PM
Response to Reply #38
39. Yes
They get real bad down here. If you drive on the highway at all your car will be covered, and if you don't wash them off right away their bug juice will eat the paint.
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tekisui Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 12:53 PM
Response to Original message
17. Skeeters, they are terrorist gangter bugs. I hate them like I hate nothing.
I feel great satisfaction and joy with each one I kill.
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RubyDuby in GA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
18. Fire ants.
If you've ever been bitten by one, you would know why.
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Norwood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
19. Mosquitos....Is there a more annoying, worthless and actually dangerous creature?
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Arugula Latte Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
21. Well, broaden the definition of "insect" to "bug" and I'll say spiders, hands down.
I know they are beneficial in some ways, etc. etc. ... I don't care. I fricking hate them. :scared:
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mitchum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:59 PM
Response to Reply #21
33. Given the arachnid option, I would vote for ticks
nasty, dangerous creatures
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 08:06 PM
Response to Reply #21
44. I love spiders...Ticks suck.
Literally.
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SeattleGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
22. Cockroaches.
I hate those fuckers!
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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #22
52. When I worked in an inner city hospital. One of the guys that worked for me complained of ear pain
I sent him to the ER where they found a live cockroach.
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KamaAina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
23. Uh, are repukes insects or arachnids?
:shrug:
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #23
43. slime molds
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Bunny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:03 PM
Response to Original message
24. Red wasps.
Because they sting my baby. Little fuckers. :grr:
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ChoralScholar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:16 PM
Response to Original message
25. I don't know what it was,
but I was working in the garage and saw a flying insect, like a bee, but way longer and with more mass - it had a long pointed tail with red and yellow stripes. It sounded like a SAAB Turboprop.

Whatever the hell that is, I want it gone.
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Parche Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:30 PM
Response to Original message
26. The Coulter Slug
Its slimy and gross...:rofl::rofl: :rofl: :hi:
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graywarrior Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:31 PM
Response to Original message
27. Republicans
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baldguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
28. Southern Conservatives
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. I was just about to post Republicans :D
Edited on Sun Aug-16-09 03:34 PM by Fire Walk With Me
But then, insects are valuable to the ecosystem. Republicans cannot even pull that off!
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azmouse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:41 PM
Response to Original message
30. Scorpions
Evil little bastards.
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NewJeffCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 07:01 AM
Response to Reply #30
48. they've been around since way before the dinosaurs
and will probably be here after humans are gone.
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azmouse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 10:17 AM
Response to Reply #48
55. Then it's waaaay past time that a meteor strike takes them out too!
:)
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madamesilverspurs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:48 PM
Response to Original message
31. Miller moths.
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pokerfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 03:49 PM
Response to Original message
32. The mosquito
For most of us, they're just a nuisance. For the rest of the world, they're deadly, killing millions each year.
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chknltl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 04:15 PM
Response to Original message
34. Fleas or neocons...tough choice
Fleas gave us the pandemic Black Plague...neocons have a potential for far worse misery. Sorry pet lovers, gonna have to go with neocons.

Ooooh I've a notion: May the fleas of a brazillian pets find new homes in the neocon's nasal passages! Call it chknltl's compromise.
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hippywife Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 04:15 PM
Response to Original message
35. Ticks.
Second would be fleas. They are both the scourge of folks living out in a rural area. I could seriously cut down on my vet bills if they didn't exist.

Hope you had a good vacation. :hi:
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chknltl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 04:26 PM
Response to Original message
36. Fleas: Adam Had'em
Shortest poem I am aware of.
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kentauros Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 05:11 PM
Response to Original message
37. FLYING roaches!
Regular roaches are bad, but flying roaches are indescribably worse.
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emilyg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 10:59 PM
Response to Reply #37
45. Yep.
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demmiblue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 06:49 PM
Response to Original message
41. Earwigs
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pink-o Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-16-09 07:55 PM
Response to Original message
42. I agree with the OP: Mosquitoes are horrible little disease-carrying bloodsuckers.
...and any benefit they have can't be outweighed by the destruction. Malaria kills millions. And swarms in Africa have actually killed Wildebeests and such. Don't want 'em. Don't need 'em. Every animal has more than one food source, so fish and birds can live without 'em. Less mosquitoes pollinating plants--well, let's look at expanding the honeybee population to take their place! (Beneficial insects we seem to be killing off)

Bottom line: you'll never convince me that mosquitoes to less harm than good. Extinct 'em, already!
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 06:51 AM
Response to Original message
46. Not just one. I would gladly eliminate all bugs. Hate them. n/t
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Broken_Hero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 06:58 AM
Response to Original message
47. Chiggers...CHIGGERS!
I hate these things...at least you can see ticks, but Chiggers...down with them.
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mnhtnbb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 03:54 PM
Response to Reply #47
62. I have had way too many horrible chigger bites this summer.
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NewJeffCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 07:02 AM
Response to Original message
49. yellow jackets
pretty nasty creatures.
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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 09:04 AM
Response to Reply #49
51. My brother calls them the no reason bee (he claims they sting with out reason)
he has his son absolutely terrified of them
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Amerigo Vespucci Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
53. The insect known as "Bushiccus Annoyingthehelloutofus," for obvious reasons.
ALSO disease-carrying blood suckers, but INFINITELY more annoying than mosquitos.
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Tuesday Afternoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 09:25 AM
Response to Original message
54. Fleas, Ticks, Flies.
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Demoiselle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 01:32 PM
Response to Original message
56. Ticks. All of them.
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JitterbugPerfume Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 01:34 PM
Response to Original message
57. my ex
badda-boom!
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av8rdave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 01:35 PM
Response to Original message
58. Rush Limbaugh
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REP Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 03:28 PM
Response to Original message
59. Gastropoda (may not technically be insects)
I have a deep, unreasonable aversion to slugs and snails and I grow orchids. Even if I didn't grow orchids, I'd want slugs and snails off my planet, or at least no where within 5 miles of where ever I am. I don't know if slugaphobic is a word, but I'd say it's an accurate description of how I feel.
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 03:39 PM
Response to Original message
60. Beetle Bailey
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Beer Snob-50 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 03:49 PM
Response to Original message
61. i don't think mosquitos have no real purpose
other than piss everyone off.
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melman Donating Member (233 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 04:03 PM
Response to Original message
63. bed bugs
they are pure evil
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dropkickpa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-17-09 04:36 PM
Response to Original message
64. silverfish, creepy little fuckers
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